diff --git a/grails-app/taglib/au/org/ala/ecodata/forms/ModelTagLib.groovy b/grails-app/taglib/au/org/ala/ecodata/forms/ModelTagLib.groovy
index fb1b73d..d962d3f 100644
--- a/grails-app/taglib/au/org/ala/ecodata/forms/ModelTagLib.groovy
+++ b/grails-app/taglib/au/org/ala/ecodata/forms/ModelTagLib.groovy
@@ -1009,8 +1009,12 @@ class ModelTagLib {
     }
 
     static boolean getAllowRowDelete(attrs, name, context) {
-        def ard = getAttribute(attrs, name, context, 'allowRowDelete') ?: 'true'
-        return ard.toBoolean()
+        Map dataModel = getAttribute(attrs.model.dataModel, name)
+        def allowRowDelete = true
+        if (dataModel?.allowRowDelete != null) {
+            allowRowDelete = Boolean.valueOf(dataModel.allowRowDelete)
+        }
+        allowRowDelete
     }
 
 
@@ -1031,7 +1035,7 @@ class ModelTagLib {
         return target ? target[attribute] : null
     }
 
-    def getAttribute(model, name) {
+    static def getAttribute(Collection model, String name) {
         return model.findResult( {
 
             if (it.name == name) {
diff --git a/src/test/groovy/au/org/ala/ecodata/forms/ModelTagLibSpec.groovy b/src/test/groovy/au/org/ala/ecodata/forms/ModelTagLibSpec.groovy
index ab181cf..a95e638 100644
--- a/src/test/groovy/au/org/ala/ecodata/forms/ModelTagLibSpec.groovy
+++ b/src/test/groovy/au/org/ala/ecodata/forms/ModelTagLibSpec.groovy
@@ -147,4 +147,26 @@ class ModelTagLibSpec extends Specification implements TagLibUnitTest<ModelTagLi
 
     }
 
+    def "The allowRowDelete method supports nested tables"() {
+        setup:
+        Map attrs = [model:[dataModel:[
+                [dataType:'list', name:"test", columns:[], allowRowDelete:true],
+                [dataType:'list', name:"test2", columns:[], allowRowDelete:"true"],
+                [dataType:'list', name:"test3", columns:[], allowRowDelete:"false"],
+                [dataType:'list', name:"test4", columns:[], allowRowDelete:false],
+
+                [dataType:'list', name:"test5", columns:[
+                        [dataType:'list', name:"test6", allowRowDelete: false]
+                ]]
+        ]]]
+
+        expect:
+        ModelTagLib.getAllowRowDelete(attrs, "test", null) == true
+        ModelTagLib.getAllowRowDelete(attrs, "test2", null) == true
+        ModelTagLib.getAllowRowDelete(attrs, "test3", null) == false
+        ModelTagLib.getAllowRowDelete(attrs, "test4", null) == false
+        ModelTagLib.getAllowRowDelete(attrs, "test5", null) == true // default is true
+        ModelTagLib.getAllowRowDelete(attrs, "test6", null) == false
+    }
+
 }